OSSEOUS PISHES. 
thousands of these boats may sometimes he seen engaged at the same 
time three or four leagues from the coast, the nets being only drawn 
when they are fully charged, when the lisb are arranged bed upon bed 
in osier baskets, each boat returning habitually to port when it has 
secured twenty-five thousand fishes. The fishery extends over five or 
six months, the produce being about six hundred millions of sardines. 
The Basque fishermen employ a net in the form of a sack, with 
rings at each corner. 
On the coast of Cornwall, as we have hinted, it is one of the staple 
industries, and pursued systematically. Where they come from, and 
whither they go, seems alike unknown. All that is certain is, that 
they are met with in shoals swimming past the SciUy Islands as early 
as July. In August the inshore fishing begins, and they appear on 
various parts of the coast as far north as Devonshire and the south 
coast of Ireland up to October and November; no doubt those which 
have escaped the innumerable nets spread for them. 
« Tim first sight from the cliffs of a shoal of pilchards,” says Mr. 
Collins, in the work already quoted, “ is not a little interesting. They 
produce on the sea the appearance of the shadow of a dark cloud, 
which approaches until you can see the fish leaping and playing on 
the surface by hundreds at a time, all huddled close together, and so 
near the shore that they can be caught in fifty or sixty feet of water. 
Indeed, when the shoals are of considerable magnitude, the fish behind 
have been known literally to force the fish in front up to the beach, 
so that they could be taken in baskets, or even with the hand. 
“ With the discovery of the first shoal, the active duties of the look- 
out, or huer, on the cliffs begin. Each fishing village places one or 
more of these men on the watch all round the coast. He is, therefore, 
not only paid his guinea a week while he is on the watch, but a per- 
centage* on tbe produce of all the fish taken under his auspices. He 
is placed at his post, where he can command an uninterrupted view of 
the sea some days before the pilchards are expected. 
« rpjig principal boat used is, at least, ot fifteen tons burden, and 
carries a large net called the ‘ seine,’ which measures a hundred and 
ninety fathoms in length, and costs a hundred and twenty pounds— 
sometimes more. It is simply one long strip from eleven to thirteen 
fathoms in breadth, composed of very small meshes, and furnished all 
along its length with cork at one edge and lead at the other. The 
